Why do stars love such strange groups?
Date: April 18, 2006 11:58PM
The "public", whoever they are, may be developing a more sophisticated set of media cognitive filters.... now, scenario 1, whether cult affiliation is a byproduct of the emotional stresses of celebrity, and many could argue that such is the case.... or whether, scenario 2, cult affiliation is symbiotic with celebrity, i.e. cults actually accelerate the process of becoming psychologically "fit" for the celebrity existence.... Door #1 or Door #2, interesting question... but certainly not a complete depiction... a number of my friends are part of the Los Angeles film and television industy and are observant Jewish, some more devout than others, however, Judiasim and Jewish culure, philosophy, charity are very solid, significant components of their mental lives.... I cannot imagine that they would get up and leave a well established community for the flavor of the month guru.... this would really be diametrically opposed to the core of their identities...
Having said all of that... "celebrity" IS an industy, and it a deep, high stakes, professionally managed industry where you are expected to do your thing regardless of what you may be personally going through, whether you have a headache, you have food poisoning, none of that matters when you're being paid to project a glowing personality through thousands of miles of wire and satellite transmission into the homes of John Q. Public.... that's why these people are so highly paid... they suffer a devastating loss of privacy, any indiscretion that wouldn't make neighborhood gossip is inflated to a media earthquake... and the worst of it, from an emotional reality standpoint, is that everybody surrounding you is TRAINED (as a matter of professionalism, not to say survival !!!) to "read your head" and tell you exactly what you want to hear... offending a powerful figure in the industry is career nuclear meltdown, and everybody knows this well, all too well.... thus, a bizarre dynamic enters the game.... the more significant you are on the scale of celebdom, the more unreal and artificial your life becomes, the more high security you require to keep stalkers and photographers at bay, the more sociopathic creeps want a piece of you.... (and yes, Virginia, the industry is infested with more low key, high functioning, borderline sociopaths than all the cults in the world put together.... which is a quick explanation of why celebrities are so perpetually paranoid.... nothing and nobody is who or what they seem)...
Given this state of affairs, any being who ventures into the wilderness of mirrors known as Celebrity, without exceptionally deep stable family structures and religious OR cultural affiliations (I'm not saying you must be religious [i:856bf83759] per se [/i:856bf83759], but I am saying you have to either be as tough as steel and as dense as lead, or you have to have a phalanx of expert protectors around you, and preferably [i:856bf83759] both [/i:856bf83759]) will be dropped, metaphorically, into a commercial strength blender while an anonymous figure hits the puree button, and in short order you will be a protein beverage for another level of the food chain...
Cults, in whatever form they may present, IMHO, provide a semblance of the protective, empathetic family where one can "be one's real self", and as with the case of Thomas C. Mapother, an absolutely regulated environment where no disturbing incongruities dare raise their ugly liitle heads like adolescent pimples to be squeezed... because, lets face it, the outside world is physically dangerous to the celebrity figure, just channel the spirit of John Lennon if you disbelieve this point, because the typical fan projects great doses of his psychological issues on you,[i:856bf83759] quelle suprise [/i:856bf83759] this is exactly what he is encouraged to do via the media/celbrity process.... skyuuuuze me, the idea is to get the great collective "you" out there, the unwashed piglets squealing at the trough of Goddish Simulacra to [i:856bf83759] identify [/i:856bf83759] with the "personality" (the more so the better... unto complete fusion of Subject and Object !!!! I AM BECOME TOM ! I AM BECOME TOPAZ PENDANT ! I AM BECOME LEAN CUISINE!!!!)....
Enter Komplete Kult Konsciousness.... piglet management technology at your fingertips ! Never mind the creepy factota hovering around with radio headsets like wool moths.... you are safe with us !!! Oh you are gay and our ascended fearless leader found HOMOS to be a defective expression of Ronald W. Kim Sung Il Baba awareness ... no problemo.... for your endorsement, sign here....here.....here....here.....here.....here....here....here....here... we will make you an HONORARY HETEROSEXUAL !!!! YAY!!! annnnnnn.... we'll arrange a nice suitable wife who never, never, never talks to the press.... and you, lucky chap you, can sneak off to Thailand where, aaaahem, social norms are more, cough, a mattter of personal interpretation..... haaaack.... you like feeelthy peeektures meeester ?